Infinite Stratos, Volume 8, page 10
Squall ground her teeth as she glared at Tabane’s back. But then the tides turned.
“Don’t move!”
Hearing the commotion, Madoka burst into the restaurant from her position outside, her IS Silent Zephyrus already open. Perfect! Great timing, M! This at least made the odds 50/50—no, her relief came too soon.
“Well isn’t that a fascinating IS you’ve got there.” Tabane closed the distance in an instant, perching herself on the tip of Madoka’s rifle.
“......?!”
Just as a shocked Madoka stirred to sweep her away, Tabane reached down and began tearing it into pieces with her bare fingers. Her bits and armor fled too, dissolving into sparkling light like a blizzard of cherry petals. Finally, just as she tore apart Silent Zephyrus’s helmet, Tabane stopped.
“Hmm? Hmmmmmmm?”
“.........”
Pausing, she stared at Madoka’s face. Madoka stood stock-still. If she moved, even her body would be torn apart.
“Aha!”
“......?”
“Ahahahaha! What’s your name?”
Madoka wavered at the sudden burst of laughter.
“Ahahaha. Why don’t you let me guess? Hahaha!” Tabane, seemingly erupting in laughter, clutched her tummy. “Orimura... Madoka, isn’t it?”
“......?!” Squall and Madoka’s jaws dropped in shock.
“I was right! Hehehe, I knew it!” After a moment’s thought, Tabane turned to Squall. “You should have told me it was for her! I’ll do it.”
“Eh—” Madoka gasped in surprise.
“But, hahaha! You’ve got to let me have her. C’mon, c’mon, can I keep her? Pleeeeease?”
“That doesn’t exactly fit my plans,” Squall scowled. Madoka was the one person she could really rely on. Without her, when the time came to put everything into play, Squall knew she’d regret it.
“C’mon, share. Okay, okay, fine. C’mon, Madocchi, tell me what kind of IS you want! A sniper? A close-in fighter? Something with a lot of tricks up its sleeve? Maybe you want to be tanky! Or would you rather float like a butterfly?” Tabane’s eyes glimmered with creativity, like a child holding a crayon. “Whatever, we can figure it out later. Let’s all sit down and have a good meal! Kuu, Madocchi, you two are never gonna grow up big and strong if you don’t eat right!”
Tabane laughed and flounced her ample breasts, as the others watched dumbfounded.
◇
“Ah...”
Several days after the hacking incident, I unfortunately stumbled into the five people I’d been doing my best to avoid—Houki, Rin, Cecilia, Charl, and Laura. It was in the dining hall in the first year dorms. They must have been waiting for me.
“Oh, wait, I forgot something in my room,” I showily intoned, making a U-turn.
“Wait!”
“Hold it right there!”
“Hold up!”
“Halt.”
“Can you hold on a minute?”
Ugh. They had me.
“W-What’s up...” I muttered.
“You’ve been avoiding us, haven’t you.”
Twitch.
“Ichika! What’s gotten into you?! This is no way to treat a lady!”
Wait, you’re the one acting hurt?
“Hmph! He knows he’s done something he should be ashamed of!”
“I should be saying that to you!” I interjected.
“Whaa?!”
“What kind of gentleman are you?”
“What the hell is wrong with you?!”
“Explain yourself, Ichika!”
“Yeah!”
I cleared my throat and argued right back at those angry faces, “All of you! Are those fantasies really what you think of me?! I’ve been too embarrassed to even want to see your faces!”
“Ah...?”
“Uh, well...”
“Do you mean...”
“Like, in cyberspace?”
“I thought I told you to forget about that!”
Seeing their guilt, I pressed them further, “How the heck am I supposed to forget about that?!”
My yelling got the attention of my other classmates, “What’s going on? Did something happen between Orimura and the other cadets?”
“It just never stops with you, does it, Orimu.”
Within seconds, a commotion formed around us. And worst of all, the second-year Mayuzumi was there too. Dammit, this was probably gonna end up in the school paper now...
“I think I just heard ‘fantasies’ and ‘embarrassed’!”
“Ooh, that’s great! Any other juicy tidbits?”
“I’ve noticed that lately he’s been avoiding everyone but Kanzashi.” As soon as Miss Casual said that, they all turned to glare at Kanzashi.
“...Eh?”
A piece of broccoli fell from her mouth. That was good. She was eating her greens.
“And Laura said to forget about something!”
“That’s right! Something must have happened! I can feel my pen calling out to me!”
I give up.
“Our cute little boy is finally going on the attack!”
“Squeee! Orimura finally looked down and found his balls!”
“I thought he’d just keep playing hard to get forever!”
“He’s an animal! No, he’s a beast!”
‘The forbidden beast mode!’ I heard someone shout. What the hell was...
“What is this ruckus?”
Everyone suddenly froze. That ice-cold voice could only be Chifuyu.
“Ah, Chifuyu, this is—”
“Call me Ms. Orimura.”
Pow! Thank you for the lesson...
“Now get outta here! Jeez...”
At least my mess of an evening had finally come to a close... Or so I thought.
◇
Late at night, in the dorm hallway.
“Ah.”
“Ah...”
Two shadows stood before a nameplate reading ‘Orimura.’ One was a willowy, energetic-looking girl with twin pigtails. One was a classy-looking girl with long curled hair and a model’s figure.
“Cecili—”
“Li—”
Remembering where they were, they each clasped a palm to their mouth, before continuing on in whispers.
“What are you doing here?”
“I could ask you the same, Ling. And why are you half naked?”
“Who dresses up to go to bed? And what about you, Cecilia? Who are you trying to impress with your rack hanging out like that?”
“Wh-What? This is my normal sleepwear.”
“All right, so go to bed then instead of hanging around here.”
“That’s what I was about to tell you! Go back to your room and—”
Rrrrrip.
“What?!”
Hearing something tear, Ling and Cecilia kicked down the door.
“Target secured.”
“Laura, are you sure we should be—”
“Ah!”
“Ah.”
The duos of Cecilia/Ling and Laura/Charlotte stared at each other for a moment.
“Charlotte! Take Ichika and get out of here!”
“Got it...! Wait, what?” Charlotte glanced down at the face of her captive.
“Mm! Mmmph!” It was their assistant homeroom teacher, Ms. Yamada Maya.
“W-W-What on Earth are you doing?! What’s gotten into you?!”
“Ms. Yamada?! W-Why...”
“Ms. Orimura told me to sleep here tonight!”
“Then, um... Where’s Ichika?”
“He’s sleeping in Ms. Orimura’s room!”
“Guh.” Rin’s displeasure was plainly visible in her expression.
“Very well, then, I’ll be taking my leave.” Cecilia swiftly moved to flee.
“Returning to base for some rest.” Laura perched on the windowsill, ready to leap.
“Sounds like a good idea!” Charlotte piggybacked onto her.
“See you later!”
As the four winked at each other, Maya wrapped the arms of her IS around them and grumbled, “...I have a lecture for you tonight!”
Two others listened in on the commotion from around the corner.
“It’s a good thing we didn’t join in,” said Houki.
“Correct,” replied Kanzashi.
It was a long, sleepless night for the four who were caught...
Epilogue: The Knight Rests Under the Cherry Trees
In the secret complex underneath IS Academy, Chifuyu gazed at a stone statue connected to dozens of cables. The statue was all that remained of Kurezakura, the IS which had given her the title of strongest woman in the world. The knight which had sacrificed everything to protect Chifuyu in a duel slept, still showing no signs of awakening.
“I understand what’s in the program Tabane sent. It... It’s the program to awaken you again.”
Her fingertips brushed over Kurezakura. It had the slight chill of true stone. But within it, she could feel the heat of its ‘will.’
“When you wake up, it’ll be time to settle things for good.” Chifuyu was sometimes forlorn, sometimes adamant as she whispered.
“What are you going to do with me?” Squad Leader spoke from the doorway, where she’d been waiting.
“Send you back to the Americans, I guess.”
“.........” She was shocked, having expected Chifuyu to have some sort of plan for her.
“If we keep you locked up here, it’ll create an international incident. Even with the exceptions IS Academy gets.”
Meaning, she was to be set free. Somehow, Squad Leader couldn’t bring herself to accept this, and surprised even herself as she argued, “But surely I have value as a hostage? You could use me in negotiations—”
“Hmph. I don’t have any need to do that.”
She stumbled back as if stuck by Chifuyu’s forceful insistence. As if shot straight through the heart she thought she’d torn out.
“Um...”
“Yes?”
“Stealth channel... xxx0891-DA.” She formed the words quietly but precisely, even though she couldn’t bring herself to look straight at Chifuyu. “You can use it to contact me...”
“I see. I’ll remember that.”
Chifuyu patted her head. Her cheeks flushed red, and she spun and scampered off as if making an escape.
“Not the type for goodbyes, huh,” Chifuyu said with a satisfied sigh. Resting her hands on her curved hips, she stretched her back. “I still won’t let you win, Tabane.”
Afterword: Deneb, Altair, and Vega. That’s the Summer Triangle you pointed at.
Hi, it’s Yumizuru again. It sure has been a long time since we’ve been able to chat in a café like this, hasn’t it? If I take a bite out of this Apple I’ll probably lose a tooth, though. Since it has Gorilla Glass.
Anyway, here it is: Infinite Stratos Volume 8. Sorry to keep you waiting. Somehow, after everything, Overlap ended up deciding to put it out. I’m grateful. And what’s really an honor is to have illustrations by CHOCO. There’s the ga from the title, manga. I’ve known about his work since I bought Igna-Zero in my second year of high school. Cute girls popping out of computer screens, fighting a demon in a fantasy world, and even twisting the laws of causality to battle space monsters—and now, that same artist is drawing for IS. It’s hard to believe we ended up collaborating. But I couldn’t be happier.
Anyway! Nothing more to say about volume 8! It was a huge pain in the butt! That’s it! I’m going back to fluffy romcom style for volume 9. I just want to write cutesy stories! Cutesy, you hear?! I’ve had enough of battles! I’m worn out. See you next time!
— Izuru Yumizuru
Oh, right, I’m supposed to write two pages here. Um... B. Behind, I got so behind! I always thought that it really sucked for manga artists when they got dragged into editor meetings to meet deadlines. Yet here I am doing it myself! I did it with the book, and now I’m doing it again with this afterword... Honestly, I’m sorry. I’ll try to get volume 9 done early! (I say this every time.)
This releases April 25th, doesn’t it? R. Releases. Right around when Dragon’s Dogma comes out. I’ll do the playing for all of us, so you guys can finish reading IS first! Send in those surveys! I’d like to do a character popularity survey, it’s been a while. And then I’d be able to write something nice for the first place. If only... If only... But nah, there’s no way to make that work, is there.
Oh, and I’ve been having lots of fun with the new JoJo fighter. I’m terribad at fighting games, but I’m still gonna buy a copy.
“I’m holding up the press!” and they’d go, “Dammit, Yumizuru!” (I would get killed if I tried this.)
I’ve really got a thing for Kuroiel lately. Even more of one if imagining her with four legs, a pair of blade arms, a missile pod, and an angel’s halo. (And maybe a pair of shotguns!)
I wish they’d give me and CHOCO our own segment on Radio IS. Maybe something where we could write a scene based on requests, and then send it over to the rest of the cast or something. Oh, I’m out of room on page 2.
By Izuru Yumizuru.
Table of Contents
Cover
Color Illustrations
Chapter I: Strange Days Again
Chapter II: Brynhildr
Chapter III: World Purge
Chapter IV: Tea Party in the Secret Garden
Epilogue: The Knight Rests Under the Cherry Trees
Afterword
About J-Novel Club
Copyright
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Copyright
Infinite Stratos: Volume 8
by Izuru Yumizuru
Translated by Mike Langwiser
Edited by Meiru
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2013 Izuru Yumizuru
Illustrations by CHOCO
Cover illustration by CHOCO
All rights reserved.
Original Japanese edition published in 2013 by OVERLAP, Inc.
This English edition is published by arrangement with OVERLAP, Inc., Tokyo
English translation © 2019 J-Novel Club LLC
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property.
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The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
Ebook edition 1.0: July 2019
Izuru Yumizuru, Infinite Stratos, Volume 8
